The Baptism Of Our Lord.

Today's feast follows quickly in the footsteps of Epiphany, the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles. (That's you and me.) Today's celebration is also a sort of Epiphany. Since it commemorates the manifestation of Christ's divinity. As Jesus is baptized by John the voice   Of the Father can be heard saying " this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased". The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove then descends and rests on Jesus. All three present! The same is true for us at our baptism, wether we remember it or not. We enter into a communion with the  Blessed Trinity. The gates of Heaven are opened up to us, and we have been cleansed from all original and personal sin. How the angels and saints must rejoice as another new Christian joins the heavenly family. This is not to say that we don't feel the effects if original sin. We are all left with an inherent weakness. But just in that moment the waters have washed us clean. The Church has always taught that Baptism is necessary for salvation and through our own baptism we have been adopted into the family of God. But just as Jesus' ministry started with his baptism so to does ours. We, like Christ are anointed with the Holy Spirit and share in his ministry to go and make disciples of all nations. In fact we should be able to  utter the same words as Jesus "The Spirit of The Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me To proclaim release to the captives and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of The Lord".
In many ways the feast of our own baptism is as important as our Birthday. It is a good idea to get out any baptismal candles you may have and relight them on yours and your children's anniversary. Maybe they could be used on the table at the evening dinner or during family prayer time.
Because of this feasts affinity to water I have included a recipe for smoked haddock pots, this is very popular in my house. They are very easy to make and have a delicious flavour. I like to make them in cleaned out scallop shells but you can use ramekins or even just use one dish. The amount is for about six people;

 Smoked haddock pots.
10. oz smoked haddock/cod, skinned
3oz chopped tomatoes
3tsp chopped parsley( optional)
1 egg, beaten
12fl oz double cream
3oz fresh breadcrumbs
1oz of grated parmesan
Salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 375/190/ gas mark 5
In your scallop shells or ramekins place equal quantities of chopped tomato and fish sprinkle with parsley.
Combine egg and cream season well, pour over fish
Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and parmesan.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins until lightly golden and bubbling.
Sprinkle with more parsley if you wish.
This can be served as a starter or as a main course with some veg or a salad.

Epiphany

Today is the feast of the Eplphany of our Lord.  We celebrate the arrival of the “The Three Kings” or ” Wise Men” from the East who came to pay homage to this young infant king. The word Epiphany means “manifestation”. These wise men participated in Gods plan of revelation to reveal his Son to the world.

I often wonder how Our Lady must have felt when these strange, royal men rode up to their humble abode. Had she come to “expect the unexpected” now that she had handed her life over to God? Or did she feel overwhelmed by the arrival of such a prestigious group of visitors? And what of their strange gifts? Did she wonder why these important men had chosen to present her precious Son with Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh? Was she aware of their significance?

In the ancient world it was good protocol to bring gifts to a king. In Scripture we see the queen of Sheba arrived to meet Solomon with gifts of spices, gold and precious stones (1Kings 10:2); and psalm 72 and Isaiah 60 both speak of bringing gifts to a king. Gold – the metal of kings; frankincense – a sign of worship; and myrrh – an ointment traditionally used for burial.

An American Catholic author called Dr Peter Kreeft speaks of the significance of the three gifts:

"Three wise men, three gifts, three offices (prophet, priest and king), three parts of the human soul (intellect, heart and will) because the Inventor and Designer of man is three. The medieval mind saw Trinitarian echoes everywhere, for a very good reason: Everything is made by the Trinity, and what is made must reflect its Maker."

These foreigners, the first Gentiles to recognize Christ, are able to see that  the “Light” born into the world was the promised saviour – something that Herod and the Temple priesthood failed to recognize.

In many parts of the world, Epiphany is the day of gift giving, when families gather together to exchange their Christmas gifts and to celebrate the coming of the Magi. We know some families who have decided to take the pressure off Christmas and now have gift giving and a lovely day out at Epiphany. Others celebrate with a family get together.

For many years now in our own family we always ask God’s blessing on our home on Epiphany. If we can, we take some chalk to Mass in the morning and ask Father to bless it. If we can’t, then my husband asks for God’s blessing on the chalk; and we then go and mark each of the doors entering our home with the inscription 20+CMB+19. The 20 &19 stand for the year we are in and the CMB stands for the names traditionally given to the three Kings, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. He then prays a simple blessing which we found in the Advent and Christmas book by Catherine and Peter Fournier:

'O Lord, grant that the names of thy saints Casper, Melchior and Balthazar may, through their merits and petitions bless our home and bring physical health and spiritual protection for all who enter here. Amen'

However you choose to celebrate this lovely feast, let us, like the Magi, seek the Christ Child who is the light of the world.

The Holy Name Of Jesus.

Today we celebrate the feast of The Holy Name Of Jesus. I find it interesting that the Church has given us a feast in honour of someone's name. But what a name. Jesus himself told us to ask anything in his name and it would be given to us. To speak the name of Jesus is such a simple prayer but one
that has such a deepness that we can never get to the bottom of it. Down through the ages many saints have revered the name of Jesus and told of its immense value of just saying that one word. I, myself
find I am drawn to using the Aramaic word Yeshua, slowly and simply repeating it over, some would call it a mantra. But I think of it as just saying my beloveds name over and over. It brings with it a
 deep sense of peace. And sometimes it's the only prayer I can get out, especially when your heart is heavy.

St. Bernard, St Bernadine of Sienna  and St. John Capastrino all had a great love for this one word and  promoted devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus.  In their preaching missions throughout Italy, they carried a monogram of the Holy Name   In its origin, the monogram  IHS represents the Latin Iesus Hominum Salvator, meaning “Jesus Savior of Mankind.”  St. Bernardine and St. John blessed the faithful with this monogram, invoking the name of Jesus, and many miracles were reported.  They also encouraged people to have the monogram placed over the city gates and the doorways of their homes.  Dispelling the objections of some who considered this veneration superstitious, Pope Martin V in 1427 approved the proper veneration to the Holy Name and asked that the cross be included in the monogram.

So as we continue this tradition why not get the children to paint a monogram which you could put into a frame and place by your front door asking God to make your home a place of peace and love.